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Athens Solidarity Center
from ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Employability
Total number of individuals supported: 928 Total number of sessions conducted: 2,897 Total number of jobs found: 399 Total budget: Centers + 98,929.28€ Donors/Supporters: EEA Grants (CROWE Greece
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and HumanRights360 as Fund Operator), The Shapiro Foundation, UNHCR, Open Society Foundations, Horizon 2020/EU, Erasmus+/EU, UNHCR, International Center for Migration and Policy Development (ICMPD)
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Supporting individuals to join the labour market is a core pillar of the work carried out by SolidarityNow, both through the Solidarity Centers in Athens and Thessaloniki and other complementary programmes. By facilitating access to employment, we aim to encourage and empower beneficiaries to become independent and self-reliant and take the future in their own hands. Relevant interventions are outlined below.
Athens Solidarity center
In 2020, 507 individuals were supported by the employability services through 1,603 sessions while 157 jobs were found. Of those employed, 25% took on jobs as cultural mediators in the humanitarian sectors, followed by technicians (including carpenters, electricians) (13%), cleaning jobs at the public sector (10%) and agriculture (10%). Of those finding employment, 25% were Greek and the majority spoke either Greek or English. SolidarityNow constantly strives to expand its network of employers, which already includes over 70 companies.
Blue Refugee center
The employability services in Thessaloniki were provided by a team based at the Blue Refugee Center to improve the quality of services provided. Efforts in 2021 focused on expanding and strengthening collaborations with large scale employers and establish a network of companies which can hire programme beneficiaries. A total of 290 people (49% of beneficiaries) were supported to join the labour market in Thessaloniki. The sectors employing most beneficiaries were Industry & Clothing (41%), Food & Tourism (26%), Agricultural jobs and primary sector (12%) and Humanitarian and Social Jobs (8%). The support to beneficiaries consisted of individual sessions as well as group sessions aiming to motivate individuals to find employment and support them throughout the process, while targeted thematic workshops were also provided.
SIRIUS
(Skills & Integration of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the European Labour Markets)
The SIRIUS-EU project brings together universities and civil society organisations from eight EU countries and aims to identify barriers and enablers for migrants and refugees to enter the labour market and was completed in July 2021. During the year, SolidarityNow prepared a guide for refugees and asylum seekers interested in starting up a business in Greece as well as some videos of success stories of refugees finding employment and integrating in Greece.
Skills-based relocation programme
In 2021, SN collaborated with ICMPD for the implementation of the programme exploring complementary pathways for asylum-seekers and refugees from a labour mobility perspective. The pilot programme contributed to establishing a baseline for the feasibility of skills and qualifications-based relocation of refugees (and asylum-seekers) in the EU, through establishing a pathway between refugees in Greece and employment opportunities in Portugal. SN supporting the definition of minimum criteria and suitable profiles and identified beneficiaries in Greece to be included in the pilot. The programme did not proceed with the relocation of beneficiaries; however, the challenges and success stories were documented to support similar programmes in the future.
REWIP (Refugee Empowerment and Work Integration Programme)
REWIP aims to support young migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, with their first steps towards achieving work integration and as an extension, social integration in Greece. During its last year of implementation, the following activities were carried out (mainly online): workshops for refugee empowerment, refugee career counselling and support, volunteering. A mock-interview workshop with large companies interviewing beneficiaries in zoom break-out rooms comprised the main event, whilst SN and partners moderated it. REWIP was selected as a best practice by the Greek National Agency which manages Erasmus+ programmes.
© Lambros Papanikolatos
Empowerment and community Engagement
Total budget: 92,948.86€ Donors/Supporters: Open Society Foundations,
Erasmus+/EU, Student Action for Refugees (STAR), Major Development Agency of Thessaloniki (MDAT), UNICEF
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Targeted innovative interventions aim to strengthen the impact of large-scale programmes so that underserved members of the community, requiring specialised support, can receive it. In this framework, SolidarityNow implements smaller complementary programmes aiming to empower and engage individuals to become agents of change for their communities. Relevant actions are outlined below.
Mama Postnatal Support & care
The Mama project, implemented in collaboration with the Municipal Development Agency of Thessaloniki, started in 2020 and aims to support new parents through the provision of a holistic package of supportive services and activities. Prenatal and postnatal counselling, workshops, and events (in person and remotely) aimed to help new parents with their first steps in their new roles, while also empower them to become active community members and establish a supportive network which they can rely on. The creation of an Instagram page and several online events led to a diversification of participants to also include many Greeks. Moreover, useful informative materials were created in many languages and distributed to the beneficiaries.
StartNow
The project aims to educate and transform students to become ambassadors for refugees and refugee protection, and to promote civic engagement of young people from different backgrounds. This is achieved through mobilising Greek students and engaging them on migration issues. The diversity of student volunteers increased in 2021, with most of activities being carried out remotely, to include universities from Athens, the Peloponnese, and the Greek islands, in addition to the current universities of Thessaloniki (Aristotle University, University of Macedonia, International Hellenic University). By the end of the year, 179 student volunteers participated (of which 156 were female), 23 student leaders were trained, and 186 refugees participated in the programme.
Infant and Young child Feeding
An analysis of the health-related risks that infants and young children of refugee families face due to the increasing food dependency and the lack of relevant support, led to the implementation of a training on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF). With the supervision of a UNICEF Nutrition expert, a comprehensive training was designed to improve knowledge, information, and skills to frontline workers on the topic. The training and the information provided, was adapted to the current situation in the refugee setting in Greece. The main goal was to raise awareness, provide up-to-date scientific information, practical and applicable tools, and ideas to help the staff support families of babies and children despite the lack of expertise. 16 online training sessions took place in a span of 7 months. 209 frontline workers of 31 organisations (NGOs and local authorities) from 40 locations in Greece participated in the training. Furthermore, informative material (leaflet, flashcards, a game, and poster) was created to support the sustainability of the action.
Interventions to support the Roma community
In 2020, SN embarked on a new area of work and established a collaboration with a few Roma organisations supporting the Roma Community of Dendropotamos, just outside Thessaloniki. Throughout the year, SN has provided diverse support to the community, while also leading actions to build the capacity of the local Romaled organisations. • Capacity Building for Roma Women’s
Association - workshops on NGO management including proposal development, project management, finance, and procurement. Medi-Rom - MoU signed between SN and
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the Roma Women’s Association for the implementation of the Medi-Rom programme. The project aims to assess the needs of Roma communities and establish open lines of communication with municipalities and health care professionals. It takes a village to raise a child – In collaboration with UNICEF, SN implemented a female and parental empowerment intervention designed for the local Roma women. The aim of the project was to provide information and raise awareness on women’s health, infant and young child feeding and parenting, and most importantly, to provide a safe space for adolescent girls and women of all ages to discuss these sensitive topics openly, get necessary support and strengthen the community female support networks. Roma History Lessons - aiming to empower Roma women and strengthen their Roma identity through the understanding and appreciation of their culture and a narrative from the viewpoint of the population itself. Roma Political School - SN supported the organisation of the Roma Political School in Greece, which was led by the Roma Women’s Association of Dendropotamos. SN led some sessions while the first 4-day meeting in Thessaloniki was carried out at SN’s Blue Refugee Center.
Not Alone in Europe
The “Not Alone in Europe” project aims to empower, engage, inspire, and support young LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in five European countries. This is done through specialised training on the LGBTQI+ paradigms for individuals working with young LGBTQI+
migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, such as youth and social workers, educators, and community mediators. The project aims to contribute to the social inclusion of LGBTQI+ beneficiaries and support them to become actors of change for their communities. For this reason, a training, bringing together all project partners, was conducted in Barcelona, where tools and training materials were developed to strengthen the impact of the programme. These tools will be presented in workshops in each implementing country in 2022.
Welcoming Afghan Refugees in Albania
In August 2021, SolidarityNow was called upon to assist the Open Society Foundations in Albania in welcoming and accommodating Afghan evacuees. The team provided first line guidance and information, followed by relevant support, ensuring that all material, legal, and psychosocial needs were met. SN set up a child-friendly, providing activities for children and supported the adults to lead activities for themselves, leading to a very successful community engagement intervention.
civil Society Strengthening
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SolidarityNow believes in partnerships and carries out complementary actions to strengthen civil society. As such, collaborations with civil society organisations are established across programmes to increase their impact and reach, while SolidarityNow works to share expertise and knowledge to build organisational capacities and improve the impact of the civil society sector in Greece as a whole.
Active citizens Fund
SolidarityNow, acts as a Fund Operator for the EEA Grants - Active Citizens Fund in Greece, in cooperation with the Bodossaki Foundation. The Active Citizens Fund in Greece is supported through a €12m grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway as part of the EEA Grants 2014 – 2021 Programmatic period. The programme aims to develop the sustainability and capacity of the civil society sector in Greece, and to strengthen its role in promoting and safeguarding democratic procedures, active citizenship, and human rights.
In 2021, 22 new projects from 32 organisations across Greece were selected under the third round of open calls aiming to promote gender equality & combat gender-based violence (€1.005.400 available funding) and develop networks between Civil Society organisations (€500.000 available funding). By the end of 2021, a total of 134 civil society organisations have been contracted and are implementing a variety of projects across Greece, while almost 25,000 individuals are engaged in and benefiting by their activities.
In November 2021, SolidarityNow participated in ACF Fund Operator’s Meeting, held in Leuven, Belgium. 18 staff members of ACF Fund Operators, four representatives of the Donor States, two staff members of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and several FMO staff shared their experiences and insights from the implementation.
In December 2021, and in the context of the allocation of an EEA Grants reserve fund for Greece, an additional €1.45 million in grants to the programme was announced. SolidarityNow and Bodossaki Foundation, in consultation with the EEA Financial Mechanism, decided to allocate the additional funds to a new open call for proposals (with a budget of €661,387) aiming to support the institutional development of civil society organisations in Greece and seven worthy projects, which come from the ranking list of runner-up projects, accounting for €1.42 millions of grants in total.
Finally, the open call for Bilateral Cooperation Initiatives for which SN is responsible, aiming at the strengthening of bilateral relations between NGOs in Greece and entities in the Donor States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), remains open for applicants. The call with available funding of €92,000 will remain open until June 30th, 2023, or until the exhaustion of the available funds. So far, over €75,000 have been disbursed to 18 organisations from Greece and the Donor states.
Athens Solidarity Center
Numerous CSOs and public/ private entities have collaborated with the Athens Solidarity Center (ASC) for the purposes of providing a more targeted support to specific groups or to complement existing services. In 2021, the ASC partnered with the following organisations: • Network for Children’s Rights (NfCR) - for the operation of the Day Care Center (until
June 2021) where an educator and child psychologist can look after children between 3 and 12 years of age, while their parents receive services at the ASC. Themed educational activities were provided throughout the year with these being done remotely during the lockdown Refugee Legal Support - Athens (RLS) - to assist refugees with their family reunification applications and to prepare them for their asylum interviews in Greece, in close collaboration with the ASC Legal Services team Social Hackers Academy for a Basic Computer Learning programme at the ASC computer lab Amala for educational classes for ASC beneficiaries Odyssea for employability and vocational training courses
To maximise impact and guarantee high quality support, SolidarityNow will continue to lead efforts to identify and address issues faced by specific vulnerable groups (including LGBTQI+, seniors and children – especially unaccompanied minors and victims of gender-based violence). This will include capacity building, experience exchanges and other events, while enabling synergies and intersectoral cooperation among specialised organisations and mainstream NGOs.
